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Kenya's election outcome challenged

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Despite his popularity at home, he is facing charges of crimes against humanity

Analysts say his victory sends out a strong message to the West

The election of Uhuru Kenyatta is a storybook ending for the son of Kenya's first president.

But despite his popularity at home, he is facing charges of crimes against humanity at the International Criminal Court over the 2007 post-election violence in Kenya, putting the West in a dilemma in its fight for human rights in the continent.

Kenyatta, 51, narrowly eked out a win, and will become the youngest president of East Africa's largest economy. His challenger, Raila Odinga, has said the vote is flawed, but lost a challenge brought in the Supreme Court.

Analysts say Kenyatta's victory signals a growing discontent against Western intervention in the continent.

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Monitoring Kenya's vote -- digitally

Photos: Kenya elections – Men watch the incoming provisional election results on a television outside a shop in the Kibera slum of Nairobi, Kenya's capital, March 5, 2013.

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Photos: Kenya elections – An armed security officer guards ballot boxes on March 5, 2013 that have yet to be tallied in Kakamega, western Kenya, a day after the country held national elections.

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Photos: Kenya elections – The Presiding Officer from the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) shows presidential ballots for counting at a polling station at the Oloolua Primary School in the town of Ngong on March 4, 2013.

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Photos: Kenya elections – Poll officials count ballots at a polling centre following Kenya's national elections on March 4, 2013 in the country's western province in Kakamega.

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Photos: Kenya elections – Shadows of a long queue of voters is cast upon the road, just before voting is due to close, in downtown Nairobi, the Kenyan capital, on March 4, 2013 as Kenyans vote in general elections.

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Photos: Kenya elections – A man shows his inked finger, which marks that he has voted in Kangemi, Nairobi.

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Photos: Kenya elections – Election officer shows presidential ballots for counting at a polling station at the Oloolua Primary School as voting closes in the town of Ngong, outside of Nairobi.

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Photos: Kenya elections – An election observer sits beside sealed ballot boxes after the close of voting at the Oloolua Primary School as voting closes.

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Photos: Kenya elections – A voting assistant stacks ballot papers marked with a vote for presidential candidate Raila Odinga to an assistant at the Olympic Primary School in Kibera, Nairobi on March 4, 2013.

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Photos: Kenya elections – Maasai tribes-people leave after voting in Ilngarooj, Kajiado South County, Maasailand, on March 4, 2013 during Kenya's elections.

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Photos: Kenya elections – People stand in line to cast their vote at a polling stations in Kisumu, western Kenya on March 4, 2013 during the nationwide elections.

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Photos: Kenya elections – Close up of Hawa Hassan's, a Nubian born in Kibera in 1953, identity card as she gets ready to vote at the Old Kibera Primary School in Nairobi on March 4, 2013 during the nationwide elections. Nubians, originally from Sudan, have suffered statelessness for many years in Kenya since they were brought into the country as soldiers for the British in the early 1900s and settled in 'Kibra' meaning 'forest' in Nubian.

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Photos: Kenya elections – Kenyan women carrying her baby casts her ballot at a polling booth in the Mathare, in Nairobi on March 4, 2013 during the elections.

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Photos: Kenya elections – A voter puts a ballot paper into the senatorial box as voting kicked off in Kenya on March 4, 2013 in the country's western province in Kakamega. Long lines of Kenyans queued from far before dawn to vote Monday in critical elections, the first since violent polls five years ago, with five policemen killed in an ambush in Mombasa hours before polling started.

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Photos: Kenya elections – An elederly Maasai woman casts her vote in Ilngarooj, Kajiado County, Maasailand, on March 4, 2013.

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Photos: Kenya elections – Kenyans voters queuing for the presidential elections at the Kisumu Social Centre, one of the largest polling stations in Kisumu town in western Kenya March 4, 2013.

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Photos: Kenya elections – Kenya's Deputy Prime Minister and presidential candidate Uhuru Kenyatta speaks to the press after casting his vote at the Mutomo primary school in Kiambu, north of Nairobi on March 4, 2013 during the nationwide elections.

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Photos: Kenya elections – Kenyan Prime Minister and presidential candidate Raila Odinga releases a dove at a rally in Nyayo Stadium in Nairobi on March 2, 2013, on the last day of campaigning, 48 hours ahead of presidential, gubernatorial and senatorial elections.

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Photos: Kenya elections – Kenyans in the Dandora neighborhood of Nairobi wait to vote at James Gichuru Primary School on March 4, 2013.

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EXPAND GALLERY

Loud message

In his victory speech, Kenyatta noted the sentiment.

"Today, we celebrate the triumph of democracy; the triumph of peace; the triumph of nationhood," he said. "Despite the misgivings of many in the world, we demonstrated a level of political maturity that surpassed expectations."

Africans have accused the International Criminal Court, based in The Hague, in the Netherlands, of targeting the continent's leaders.

"Kenya sent a loud message to the ICC ... don't interfere," said Ayo Johnson, director of ViewPoint Africa. "And it does not matter if you brand our leaders as criminals."

Grooming for power?

In retrospect, it appears Kenyatta's path from childhood may have been preparing him for his new role.

His earliest memories revolve around the state house -- the nation's equivalent of the White House -- where he scampered down hallways when his father, Jomo Kenyatta, was serving as the nation's first post-independence president.

Born in 1961, two years before Kenya officially got independence from Britain, his parents named him "Uhuru" -- Swahili for freedom -- in anticipation of the nation's liberation from colonial rule.

At a young age, he brushed shoulders with some of the nation's prominent figures. His online photo album includes receiving a history award from Mwai Kibaki at a young age, the man he is replacing as president.

Kenyatta attended high school in the capital of Nairobi, where he was a winger in a rugby team.

Two years after his father died in 1978, Kenyatta joined Amherst College in Massachusetts, where he studied economics and political science.

He returned home after graduation and launched a horticulture business, which he later sold, and focused on the extensive family businesses his father left behind.

His family's empire includes hundreds of thousands of acres of land, often a cause of resentment amid the grinding poverty in the nation.

Politics and mentors

Kenyatta dipped into politics as a fierce supporter of the Kenyan African National Union, which ruled the nation from Independence until 2002.

After his father's death, Daniel Arap Moi took over the leadership of the party and the nation. He took the younger Kenyatta under his wing, mentored him and secured him a position in his government.

When Moi decided not to run for re-election in 2002, he designated Kenyatta as his candidate of choice.

Kenyatta lost to current incumbent president, Kibaki, partly because of his ties to Moi, who was resented for overstaying his welcome as president.

Despite Kenyatta's loss at the polls, he became known for more than his father's last name.

When Kibaki sought to change the constitution to strengthen the president's powers, Kenyatta teamed up with then-opposition leader Odinga to rally against the change.

In 2005, voters shot down Kibaki's constitution draft, handing the two rivals a victory.

However, the two parted ways before the last election in 2007.

Kenyatta, who was not running for office then, threw his weight behind Kibaki, who was up against Odinga.

He later served in various positions in Kibaki's government, including finance minister and his latest role, deputy prime minister.

After the 2007 election

The last election stoked deep ethnic rivalries.

When Kibaki was declared the winner, Odinga alleged the vote was rigged, sending supporters battling on the streets.

The International Criminal Court has indicted Kenyatta for allegedly funding a local militia that conducted reprisal attacks at the time.

He has denied the charges, and vowed to cooperate with the court to clear his name.

His running mate William Ruto and two others are also indicted.

Kenya reneged on a deal to try the perpetrators in local courts, forcing the courts to step in.

A Western quandary

Before the 2013 election, Johnnie Carson, the top American envoy to Africa, warned that "choices have consequences," widely interpreted as a threat to Kenyans not to vote for him.

Carson's predecessor, Jendayi Frazer, slammed his stance against Kenyatta, describing it as "reckless and irresponsible."

"Kenyatta knows that he needs the United States, and the United States knows it needs Kenya," Frazer said. "While it (relations) might be awkward, there won't be a significant change in our policy stances toward Kenya or theirs toward us."